Meet the Conference Organizers: 

Jane Barter is Professor of Religion and Culture at the University of Winnipeg, where she teaches and researches in political theology, modern Christian thought, and religion and violence. Her scholarship explores the entanglements of Christianity with nationalism, martyrdom, gender, and state power, drawing on critical theory to examine how religious traditions can both sustain and resist structures of domination. Her recent book, Theopolitics and the Era of the Witness (Routledge 2025) critically examines the redemptive narratives that underwrite public witnessing to atrocity.

Barter’s work engages these questions  with particular attention to the responsibilities of Western churches in contexts of injustice. She is committed to community-engaged scholarship that bridges academic inquiry, global and Indigenous faith, and grassroots activism.

As organizer of In the Shadows of Genocide: Palestine, Settler Colonialism, and an Ecumenical Call to Action, she works in solidarity with Palestinian voices and fosters critical dialogue on faith, colonialism, and collective liberation.

Jane Barter

Shadia Qubti is a Palestinian Christian from Nazareth, currently an arrivant on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, known as Vancouver, Canada. She worked in faith-based peacebuilding in Palestine/Israel for 15 years, focusing on amplifying women's voices through initiatives like the Women Behind the Wall podcast. Her writing is inspired by her completed research into Palestinian and North American Indigenous understandings of land, informing her approach to contextual theology. Her publications include "Noticing Sumac in Unexpected Places: Theological Engagement" in The Cross and the Olive Tree: Cultivating Palestinian Theology Amid Gaza (Orbis Books, 2025) and the forthcoming article "Joshua in the Shadows of Genocide: A Hagaric Decolonial Reading" in the Spring 2026 edition of Critical Theology. She is currently working on her first sole-authored book, exploring the intersections of gender, context, and theology, expected to be published in 2027. Shadia currently serves as Community Engagement Animator at Trinity Grace United Church in Vancouver and as a Commissioner to the General Council of the United Church of Canada.

Shadia Qubti

Dan Epp-Tiessen

Dan Epp-Tiessen is retired from many years of teaching Bible and theology at Canadian Mennonite University. One of his retirement projects is to study how the ancient texts of the Bible continue to impact events in Palestine, including the current genocide in Gaza.

Byron Rempel-Burkholder

Byron Rempel-Burkholder chairs the Mennonite Church Canada Palestine/Israel Network, a national association of working groups and individuals advocating for a just peace in the Holy Land. He resides in Winnipeg with his spouse Melita. 

Esther Epp-Tiessen

Esther Epp-Tiessen is a researcher, writer and longtime advocate for Palestinian rights and Indigenous rights. She is a board member of Canadian Friends of Sabeel and a member of the Mennonite Church Manitoba Palestine/Israel Network.." She last visited Palestine in November 2025.

Joanna Hiebert

Joanna Hiebert Bergen is Chair of Mennonite Church Manitoba Palestine-Israel Network. She has 3 years lived experience in Palestine and since returning to Winnipeg in 2015 has made education and advocacy for Palestine a passionate justice focus.